This invention is directed to a machine useable in the meat packing and slaughtering industry for holding the legs of animal carcasses to support a carcass during a hide stripping operation. The machine is especially designed for holding the front legs of an animal carcass during an up-pull skinning operation.
In one type of hide stripping method in use in the slaughtering of beef carcasses or the like, the partially skinned carcass is hung vertically from a conveyor by its rear legs and is held at its front legs while the hide is pulled from the carcass by a hide stripping chain means connected to the partially skinned hide. In this method the front legs of the carcass are held by manually chaining them to vertical posts.
This prior art method involving the chaining of the front legs has several problems. Firstly, the method is time consuming and involves a substantial amount of manual labor. Also, the method cannot be incorporated efficiently into an automatic processing line type of operation. Furthermore, in the prior art method it is difficult to keep the chain in a clean and sterilized condition.
It is the general object of the invention to provide a machine for holding the legs of an animal carcass during a hide stripping operation which overcomes the above-discussed problems of the prior art hide stripping method.
To this end, the machine of the invention is comprised of a jaw means for gripping individually a pair of legs of a carcass and holding the gripped legs in a stable position in side-by-side relation, means for moving the jaw means between open and closed positions and means for moving the jaw means to a desired elevation. In accordance with a more specific aspect of the invention, the means for moving the jaw means to a desired elevation includes means for reciprocating the jaw means back and forth along a path of movement and means for pivoting said reciprocating means about an axis transverse to the path of movement. Also, the various means for moving the jaw means are power operated to provide rapid and powerful movements and a secure gripping action of the carcass legs by the jaw means.
By reason of the above-described construction, the leg holding machine of the invention replaces the hand chaining procedure used in the prior art method of up-pull hide stripping. The machine of the invention eliminates a large portion of the manual labor required in securing the front legs of the carcass prior to the up-pull skinning operation and the subsequent release of the front legs to permit the stripped carcass to be moved to the next slaughtering station.
In addition, the machine is adapted for use in an automated processing line since once the legs of the carcass are clamped in the machine, there is no need for any worker to approach the leg gripping area during the entire hide stripping operation. With the prior method, the worker had to release the chain from its engagement with the front legs of the carcass after the hide had been pulled from the carcass to allow the carcass to be moved to the next slaughtering station. This manual procedure is not necessary with the leg holding machine of the invention because the machine is operated automatically to open its jaws to release the grip on the carcass legs. Accordingly, the leg releasing step can be performed more quickly and more reliably. Furthermore, with the use of the leg holding machine of the invention it is possible to incorporate a washing step at the end of the up-pull skinning operation in a manner such that the washing step can be performed automatically at a set time period in the hide skinning operation. The washing step serves to clean and sterilize the carcass and is an essential step in hide stripping. With the prior method the washing step often had to be delayed and could not be performed reliably in a predetermined period of time because of the varying time required for a worker to unchain the front legs of the carcass. The workers are often hindered by the slippery floor conditions in the leg gripping area resulting from the washing step.
Another feature of the invention is that the jaws of the leg holding machine can be kept much cleaner than the chains used with the prior method to thereby provide a more sanitary type of operation.
A further feature of the invention is that the leg holding machine holds the carcass legs in a very secure and stable position during the up-pull skinning step to thereby provide a more reliable operation as compared with the previous hand chaining methods.
Another feature of the invention is that while the carcass is being held in a stable vertical position symmetrically located with reference to the machine, it lends itself to be used in conjunction with an automatic brisket cutting operation.